Tokyo 2020

Trio of Olympic Licenses Reassigned After Anti-Doping Rules Violations

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (February 19) – United World Wrestling this week confirmed that three wrestlers from the 2019 Senior Wrestling World Championships in Nur-Sultan have had their results disqualified following Anti-Doping Rules Violations.

Following Doping Controls and the results management conducted by the International Testing Agency (“ITA”) on behalf of United World Wrestling, the Anti-doping Rules Violations for the presence of prohibited substances have been established against Freestyle wrestlers Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA, 74), Badkha KHUTABA (SYR, 125), and Khasanboy RAKHIMOV (UZB, 125), resulting in the automatic disqualification of the results, and as a consequence in their nation's Olympic licenses reassigned. Disciplinary proceedings, handled independently the ITA, are still pending to determine the sanctions on the athletes.

The new Olympic licenses have been awarded to the nations of the next highest-ranked wrestlers at 74kg (Poland) and 125kg (Iran, Kosovo). The national federations of France (74kg), Uzbekistan (125kg), and Syria (125kg) will be allowed to enter competitors at their respective Olympic qualifiers in March.

74kg – Kamil RYBICKI (POL)

1. RUS
2. ITA
3. USA
3. KAZ
5. JPN
6. POL

125kg – Egzon SHALA (KOS) + Yadollah MOHEBI (IRI)

1. GEO
2. TUR
3. UKR
3. CHN
5. KOS
6. IRI

The United World Wrestling website has updated brackets and results from the 2019 Senior Wrestling World Championships as well as the new allocations for Olympic licenses in each weight category. 

Istanbul, Buenos Aires to host next two U17 Worlds

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (May 25) -- For the first time, the U17 World Championships will be held in South America after the capital city of Argentina, Buenos Aires, was chosen as the host of the 2024 edition.

The announcement was made after the meeting of the UWW Bureau Monday, where host cities for a few continental competitions in 2023 and 2024 were finalized.

The beautiful city of Istanbul, Turkey, which recently hosted the Yasar Dogu Ranking Series event, will be the venue for the 2023 U17 World Championships. In the following year, the U17 World Championships will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a step that will boost the development of wrestling in South America.

The 2021 U17 World Championship, held in Budapest, saw Georgia claim the Greco-Roman team title, finishing just ahead of Ukraine, while the USA won the women’s team title. India went home from that tournament with its first-ever freestyle team title.

The Bureau Members also allocated the 2023 U17 European Championships to the Albanian capital Tirana.

Meanwhile, a request from the organizers of the 2023 Oceania Championships to change the dates of the tournament was approved as well. The championship will now take place in Sydney, Australia, in August, with the exact dates to be finalized in the coming weeks.

The 2024 Veterans World Championships – meant for wrestlers between 35 and 60 years, who will be divided into five age categories – will be held in the Croatian coastal town of Porec.

For a full list of United World Wrestling's events, please visit uww.org/events